This invention relates to fire extinguisher alarms and more particularly to an alarm adapted to be associated with or mounted in an enclosure housing a removable fire extinguisher to give a warning when the fire extinguisher is removed from its normal location.
Fire extinguishers inherently are mounted to be available for public access when needed. Because of such access, they are subject to vandalism and theft such as to be inoperative or unavailable when needed. Such interference is minimized by alarms associated with fire extinguishers which operate when the fire extinguisher is removed from its mounting. In the prior art, a variety of such alarms are included with enclosures and operate upon opening of the enclosure door. Others are interconnected in the mounting handle for the fire extinguisher and operate an electric circuit when the handle is removed from its mounting. In other arrangements, the fire extinguisher is associated with or rests on a switch to operate the alarm. The associated circuitry in such alarms is connected to existing power circuits or to battery operated circuits. In other devices a mechanical spring wound actuator is employed to operate the alarm. The electric circuits connected to existing wiring are susceptible to malfunction when the power goes off. Similarly, battery operated circuits are subject to normal current drain from the battery such that the alarm may not be operable when needed. The mechanical spring wound actuators require special housings amd special keys to wind the same, and normally will not provide sufficient signal to prevent tampering.